Several Boko Haram fighters were reportedly gunned down by Nigerian troops as the insurgents launched fresh reprisal attacks Thursday night and Friday morning on Konduga. A senior military officer said,“We lost some soldiers on Thursday night, but our troops had been able to gun down many of them and repelled the attacks. I don’t have much detail on the Friday morning attack yet”.
The military believe the insurgents have been battling for Konduga to prepare grounds for attacks on Maiduguri.Several attempts by the insurgents have been repelled by Nigerian troops.In fact ,an insurgent commander who had been impersonating Abubakar Shekau was killed recently during one of such battles in Konduga.
A witness however said Boko Haram returned to Konduga Friday at 8am driving in a large convoy of pickup jeeps led by an armoured tank.
An official of the Nigeria Vigilante Group in Borno state ,Abbas Gaza said “Our colleagues in Konduga informed us today (Friday) that it was another major success today, because apart from killing of the terrorists, the soldiers were able to retrieve a light armored tanker that led the attackers into Konduga today”.
The casualty figure on both sides could not be established at the time of filing this report .A soldier however told reporters in Maiduguri “many of them were killed and I believe half of those that escaped ran with bullet injuries”.
Reports reaching Newsdiaryonline Friday said soldiers of the 7 Division had on Thursday repelled what could have been a major terrorists’ attack on Benisheik town ,70km away from Maiduguri.
Witnesses said the insurgent laid a barricade along the Kano-Maiduguri highway near Benisheik town aimed at attacking early morning travellers . Soldiers on patrol arrived in time to engage the insurgents in a shootout.
“From what I learnt, soldiers from the outskirt of Benishiek and others from Auno intervened and averted what would have been a major onslaught,” Hussaini Musa , a traveller along the route said Friday.He told journalists that he saw corpses of five insurgents along the road.
